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ACTOR
James JohnstonLisi TribbleMarie FindleyKen Russell
DIRECTOR
Ken Russell
SYNOPSICS
The Fall of the Louse of Usher: A Gothic Tale for the 21st Century (2002) is a English movie. Ken Russell has directed this movie. James Johnston,Lisi Tribble,Marie Findley,Ken Russell are the starring of this movie. It was released in 2002. The Fall of the Louse of Usher: A Gothic Tale for the 21st Century (2002) is considered one of the best Comedy,Fantasy,Horror,Musical,Sci-Fi movie in India and around the world.
When rock star Roddy Usher's wife is murdered, he's sent to the county lunatic asylum, where the therapy is far more insane than the inmates. An amalgam of several Edgar Allan Poe stories, and a mixture of comedy, horror and musical genres.
The Fall of the Louse of Usher: A Gothic Tale for the 21st Century (2002) Reviews
The Kenny Hill Show
Now why, do you suppose, Ken Russell would make a film with the cheesy production values, low humor, mugging to the camera, and manic, unfocused energy of a Benny Hill sketch (and cast himself in the BH role)? Why ransack the cupboard of Roger Corman for old Edgar Allan Poe riffs? And why, oh why, cast five different actors in the role of Gory the Gorilla? Apparently, Ken Russell now hates us. Granted, he makes the excesses (and the deficiencies) work for him. The Fall of the Louse of Usher is a wild, non-stop ride on an out-of-control Carousel of Madness and Perversion, and somehow, through the pain, it's great fun to watch. The basic story is an updated postmortem on Poe's similarly-named classic, with rock star Roddy Usher confined to an institution after the death of his wife, Annabelle Lee. He and his sister are suspected in the killing, and their, shall we say, unhealthy relationship is revealed in a series of videos based on Poe's poetry. Benny/Ken/Calahari and the buxom Nurse Smith are determined to get to the bottom of things, and subject Roddy to various bizarre "treatments" in order to determine the truth, as a mummy and a fortune teller (in a cardinal-like hat - I'm sure that has to be significant) look on and comment on the proceedings. Along the way we are treated to twists, turns, and sidetracks that bring in references to The Telltale Heart, M. Valdemar, The Pit and the Pendulum, and so on. Overall, it really is a much better film than one would expect from any given moment, particularly if you like mining a film for symbolic meanings and correspondences. The low-budget look and spastic storytelling actually add to the sense of import, because, knowing what Ken Russell is capable of, every bit of cheesiness comes off as a conscious decision that Must Mean Something, if you could only get a tight enough grasp on the film to figure out what.
A triumph for lunatics everywhere!
It's funny how in art, you often see a cycle in which the Masters begin borrowing techniques from the very students they influenced, in turn creating whole new heights for the rest to aspire to. It could be argued that Ken Russell single-handedly pioneered the art of stylised psychosexual horror delirium and he's back to show that no one can do it better. It's a very modernised and flashy approach he uses here though, cribbed from his contemporaries and improved upon greatly. Shot on digital video and employing breakneck editing in the style of Greg Dark or Richard Kern, Russell's latest epic "The Fall of The Louse of Usher" is a whole new plateau of erotic mania for the others to aspire to. I'm not sure Edgar Allen Poe would be fully enjoying it, however... Plotwise, it concerns Gothic rock star Roddy Usher (played by Gallon Drunk's James Johnson) who, upon being accused of murdering his wife, Sweet Annabelle Lee, is committed to an insane asylum. Under the care of the maniacal Dr Calahari (Russell himself, with a terrible fake German accent, chewing up the scenery admirably here) and the beautiful Nurse ABC Smith (Tulip Junkie), Roddy is plunged headlong into a roller-coaster ride of nightmare imagery and murder as the lines between reality and insanity blur into one great big psychedelic smudge. Somewhere at the heart of it all is a murder mystery (who killed Sweet Annabelle Lee?) and, amazingly, this is solved by the end. But the mystery itself is merely secondary to all the breathtakingly strange set pieces, bogglingly obscure Poe references and increasingly unpredictable twists in the tale. Russell's eye for the bizarre and beautiful hasn't faded with age and, despite its low budget, "Louse" looks sumptuous and outlandisht. The costumes and production design are really quite remarkable, making best possible use out of the most peculiar props he could lay his hands on. Watch out for the tea cosy hat, the blow-up dinosaur dolls, the pharoah mask, the Playstation controller, the bouncy castle and, best of all, the talking 'Big Mouth Billy Bass' ornament (here playing the Egyptian God Osiris) if you don't believe me. On top of the visual weirdness, we're also treated to a series of catchy Gothic rock songs, courtesy of Johnson, that wind up as a cross between Sex Gang Children, Nick Cave and something you'd see at the end of a "Hale and Pace" episode. Astonishingly, this actually works! All in all, "Louse" isn't for everybody and if you didn't like Russell before, you're unlikely to appreciate him any more after enduring 90 minutes of this feverish plunge into the depths of his twisted mind. However, if you've a taste for genuinely weird cinema or fancy a colourful, entertaining change of pace from the dreary toss that passes for alternative film-making these days, I'd highly recommend it. For my mileage, it's just another shining jewel in his crown that reaffirms Russell as being the greatest imagination working in cinema today. I only have two questions: When can I buy the soundtrack? And where is Ken Russell's knighthood already? 9 out of 10.
Movie history is made - in Russell's personal madhouse.
I've just had the pleasure of seeing the premiere of this extraordinary movie in London - it's a trashy, hallucinatory riot that just proves what can be done with a shoestring budget and lots of enthusiasm. It's rare to see any movie these days without having been exposed to a large amount of hype, reviews etc, before even entering the cinema. Here, I had no idea what to expect. In some ways it's a shame that this film is likely to receive the critical acclaim and cinema release it deserves: but this also helps to keep it a delicious underground secret. Search it out and enjoy. The rarest thing of all is to see a cinematic genius and artistic visionary like Ken Russell take full command of a movie, shooting it at home on digital video without interference (or budget) from a studio. There are several ways that people have attempted this in the past: we have Lars von Trier's Dogme manifesto that used video to create a documentary-style gritty realism. Then there was the Blair Witch, which was more an exercise in clever marketing than a real innovation: the video medium was used - as in von Trier's movies - to convince the audience of the reality of the situation. Alan Cumming and Jennifer Jason Leigh's recent 'Anniversary Party' was shot on DV but pretended to be celluloid, showing that a low-budget video could look like a much more expensive affair. But with the Louse of Usher, Russell goes with the video grain, revelling in the cheap nasty look of DV, and creates a hallucinatory world from deliberately cheapo blow-up toys, joke-shop props and even bouncy castles. The ugly, contrasty look of DV enhances the crumbling white makeup and tombstone teeth of the characters. Far from the documentary-style realism of Dogme, Russell creates moments of decadent synthetic visual madness that fully suit the video medium. It's hard to imagine that this project was initially intended to be a studio-funded, medium budget film: the whole concept is so suited to the bargain-basement production values. The deliberate use of cheap blow-up plastic toys reminds me of how John Carpenter used a beach-ball for the alien in 'Dark Star'... instead of trying for something a bit more realistic and expensive looking, both directors choose to use their low budget to humorous effect by exaggerating the cheapness of the props. Then there's the plot... oh yes, the plot.. umm... poaching Poe's plots and themes and whipping them up alongside fetishy gore-trash and terrible double-entendre jokes hardly makes for coherency. Other wild Russell films have much in common with this movie in its crazed mess of a plot... but that's not what we're here for. In fact, the disorientation is deliberate - we're being shown the muddled state of a crazed musician's mind, in great style and humour. The cast (an a-z of 'underground') and all who took part were contributing their free time at weekends, and clearly having a huge laugh in the process. Tulip Junkie as Nurse ABC Smith stood out especially- a gorgeous, kinky, trashy presence. Russell's own performance as the deranged Dr. Caligari is, of course, hilarious - and central to the manic feel of the film. Essentially an art movie put together with all the enthusiasm and messy imagination of a home movie, the fusion creates something entirely new, totally tripped-out and hopefully a great inspiration to any film-makers who worry that DV can't be used artistically, stylishly. Bravo Ken.
Get ready for Shock Overload!
In 1970 Ken Russell made "The Devils", and before now was regarded as his most notorious movie. Now it seems he wants to top all the shocks he's ever done in any movie, and he succeeds with this independent production. Instead of dealing with a meddling studio, he gave the establishment the finger and made this movie all himself. Louse of Usher is about a rock star convicted of murdering his wife, Annabelle Lee. Roddy Usher is sent to an insane asylum directed by Ken Russell who plays Dr. Calihari. While under the care of this crazy doctor, Usher is subjected to various unconventional methods of treatment. That's the plot. Now here's the catch: this film has no structure. It is filmed with sporadic music videos. There are phallic symbols and blow up doll orgies not to mention topless nuns. I haven't seen a frenetic Russell film like this since the classic "Crimes of Passion." I hope this DVD makes a ton, so the elder poetic artist can keep doing that wonderful shock stuff a little longer. Not for children or prudes.
Its not a total waste of time
I'm not sure if it was because it was a slow Sunday afternoon or the fact that I'm having a thing for blokes with bad teeth (is that redundant?) but I didn't dislike this movie as much as I probably should have. I love Ken Russell...everything I have seen of his from The Boyfriend to The Devils.(We share birthdays!)I think that if a director is one of those filmmaker's who has a strong flavor, a distinct original style that one enjoys, it is hard to deny even his lesser moments. This movie is probably only for die hard Ken Russell fans like myself. I don't know anyone I would recommend this film to...but that is more of an insult to those I know than the movie itself.